Page 11
The
Women's Centre for Change |
Page 11
The
Women's Centre for Change |
|
IT WAS AFTER visiting the Women's Aid Organisation in KL in 1983 that Rohana Arifin, of the Universiti Sains Malaysia, had the idea of setting up a help centre for women. There was no body in Penang to which women could turn when they were in trouble. She discussed the matter with Anne Chan of the Family Planning Board who suggested that a woman lawyer be recruited. So it came about that the late Miki Goh, a practising lawyer, was invited to join the group. Thus was born the Penang Women's Crisis Centre (WCC) which held its first assembly in 1985. The charity, non-profit, Centre started life at a garage at Macalister Road. Kiru Panathy of the USM was the volunteer helper working with WCC’s first full time worker, Jacinta Joseph, who was called a co-ordinator. Now with an office at 24D Jalan Jones, Penang, and a refuge for women, the WCC has twenty to thirty volunteers, six full time and two part time workers. With the expansion of work the name was changed to the Women’s Centre for Change but the core of activity remains a crisis centre The WCC runs awareness programmes at the grassroots level, sending speakers to communities in Penang and the northern region. These programmes mainly focus on violence against women and children and their legal rights. But, being short-handed, the WCC can only cope with invitations to visit and talk. Invitations have come from schools, factories and offices. The WCC campaigns for legislation on sexual harassment, a campaign which has the support of other women’s organizations as well as trade unions. WCC also runs training classes on sexual harassment - what employees should do when so vexed. It has urged amendments to the rape laws and the drafting of the Domestic Violence Act. The rape amendments were made in 1989. To ensure that women had real protection, WCC linked the Act to the Penal Code so that, once a case involving violence came to court, the woman involved could apply for protection under the Act. But the Domestic Violence Act 1994 was strongly opposed, particularly by certain religious quarters, |
| who would place
domestic violence within
the realm of personal laws (family laws), putting them under the
jurisdiction of the family court, i.e. the Syria court. It was only in
1997 that the Act came into force, after the women's groups held a rally
calling for the implementation of the Act. The WCC is also part of the coalition that is negotiating with the government on amendments to the State Islamic Family Law Enactments in order to bring about justice to women. In the pipeline is the Gender Equality Bill which is being drafted and expected to be circulated for discussion the middle of this year. The WCC, jointly with the Malaysian Bar, has also approached the courts for a judicial colloquium in the interests of developing Malaysian laws in view of the current legal developments, particularly in the area of human rights and gender equality. It was hoped that such a conference would keep the judges up to date on the latest developments in this field nut, so far, they have not succeeded in getting approval. Programmes have been developed for school children between the ages of 9 to 10 years and 15 to16 years to make them aware of child abuse and rights. The first programme, called “OK Tak OK” deals with child sexual abuse, which centres around teaching children to trust their instincts and to speak up and take action. The VCD "OK tak OK (Siri 2) won the Osaka Human Rights Award 2005. The VCD are theatrical presentations, “interactive” plays, which can suddenly stop for the children in the audience to be asked what they would do in the situation they had just witnessed. The second programme, "RESPEK", deals with “social interaction” - the relationship between boys and girls and centres around the issue of respect. It encourages teenagers to respect themselves and respect others, i.e. not allow themselves to be abused nor to abuse others. Both programmes run on the concept of theatre in education and was developed with the assistance of university drama lecturers. Packages have been developed to allow teachers to continue teaching children and teenagers. To use an old fashioned term , boys learn how to be “gentlemen” in their relationship with girls. Both programmes run on the concept of theatre in education and was developed with the assistance of university drama lecturers. Packages which include VCD have been developed to allow teachers to continue teaching children and teenagers. "Turning Point" is a programme , launched in April of 2005, and conducted in secondary schools for boys between the ages of 15 to 16 years old. Last year 1,300 boys took part. Universities, colleges, church institutions and youth clubs are also involved. The response has been good and the feedback has shown that children benefited from it. For instance, a child brought her mother, a survivor of domestic violence, to the WCC after undergoing the programme. All these are being undertaken against the backdrop of the continued services provided for women survivors of violence by way of emotional, legal and physical support. Support groups for victims of domestic violence, rape and single mothers are also being developed by the “intervention team”. |
| The “intervention
team” provides emotional support such as counselling, transport,
helping with police reports, accompanying clients to the Welfare Department
and magistrate's court to apply for interim protection order. Local social work university students have been doing their placement (practical) training at the WCC since the 1990s and continue to do so today. WCC has become known internationally and now receives interns - university students both local and from countries such as Canada, Australia, the US and Germany, who do their internship with the WCC for periods between 2 weeks to 3 months, working as part of the office staff. # |
| _____ INDEX Point to the article that you want to read, and CLICK Index page Baba
sayings Book Review Food
guide The jungle war (6) Letter from Pulau Tikus MGG Pillai The people's constitution (6) Women's Centre for Change
|
|
Technical advisor: Tony Ooi We thank Phek Choo, Hooi Lin, K H Koh, Choong Yih and Ling
for their assistance
|
If you have any photos of old Penang which you would like published please send them to 35 Halaman Batu Maung 11960 Batu Maung Penang and we shall return them to you after publication If you have a story we shall be glad to publish it here. We have also an Index to all issues. If you are interested in having a copy please email us at thepenangfileg@yahoo.co.uk giving your name, address as well as your email address ____________________ The Penang File Issue 47 |